System of gun-control.



PATENTED APR.

V J. L. HALL. SYSTEM OF GUN CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Figl.

lnvenifor John L Hall WM QM PATENTED APR. 2, 1907.

J. L. HALL. SYSTEM OF GUN CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILE D NOV- 28. 1904.

2 SHEBTSSHEET 2.

' I m eNC 01. John LHal I. WM 41%;

1 U ITED. STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. HALL, or SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL 7, ELEcTRIo COMPANY, a CORPORATION on NEW YoRK.

SYSTEM OF GUN-CONTROL.

To all whom it may concern: k

Be .it known that I, JOHN L. HALL, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady and State .of'New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems of Gun Control, of which the following is a specification.

Thepresent invention relates to systems for operating and controlling guns or similar mechanism, and particularly to systems of remote control for the same.

- It is now the practice to determine at a range-finding station the range of the ship' or other object at which it is desired to fire and to telephone or otherwise communicate the range to the control-stations adjacent the Not only must the range be communicated to the control-stations from the distant range-finding statio'ns,-= but the orders for I positioning a ordersto be executed improperly. The guns must be directed to fire from points Within the zone of operation of opposing guns,

and wherethe number of guns is large it is difficult to control them perfectly, so as to secure the most ra id and efiicient operation and cooperation 0 all of the guns.

The object ofthe present invention is to provide means foTrapidly and accurately gun or other object from a remote station.

A further object of the present invention consists in a peculiar construction and organization of arts constituting a system of remote contro for a; motor or an electric circuit.

Furtherobjects of the present invention will appear in connection withthe following description of one embodiment thereof,

which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 represents diagrammatically a gun and means for controlling the gun from a remote point in accordance with the resent invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are etail Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 28, 1904. Serial No. 234,469.

gun orguns of a battery or batteriesr Patented April 2, 1907.

views of amotor-controller employed in connection with the present invention. Fig. 4 is a detail of the master controlling element whereby the .position of the gun is determined. Fi 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the present invention.

Similar reference characters will be used throughout the specification to indicate corres onding parts.

he present invention comprises a gun and operating means therefor, with controlling mechanism for the o crating means com rising an arm arrange to be adjusted para: lel to the line connecting the gun and target, with apparatus for causing the gun to bemoved into parallelism with the arm. The arm is preferably associated with a master-controller at a remote point, and a motor-controller is provided near the gun andis arranged to be controlled by the master-controller.

Inthe embodiment of the invention illustrated the motor-controller is of the huntrunmng positions from a distant station and returned to its off position by the gun carriage or other object being moved. The pos1tion.to which the motor-controller is caused to move from its off osition demay move before it is brou ht to rest by reason of the interruption o the circuit of its propelling-motor upon the return of th motor-controller to its off position.

Reference being had to the drawings, A represents the gun, and a, the gun-carriage.

B is a motor for driving the gun-carriage through any suitable connecting ,medium. The field b of the motor is connected directly across lines 1 and 2, which are respectively the positive and negative leads from a source of-currentsupply. The motor is controlled by regulating the strength and direction of current-flow through its armature.

C is the motor-controller, which consists, preferably, of a series of fixed contacts, some of which are associated with resistance-sections, a movable contact-arm, and means for movin the arm. The fixed contacts of the contro ler comprise an elongated strip 0 and two shorter sets of strips 0 c and c c, together with the resistance-controlling con- .tacts c and c. The contact 0 extends ing type, being caused to move to definite termines the angle through. which the gun ICC throughout the length of the controller, while the remaining contacts do not cross the center of the controller, thereby leaving a space at the center in which there is no e trical connection between the fixed contacts and the movable contacts carried by thearm 0 except at contact 0. c and c are connected together, as are also contacts a and 0 The arm 0 is divided into two portions insulated from each other by a piece of insulation-c or is otherwise arranged so that it serves to connect together a and c or c and c and c or c and 0. Contacts 0 and c are connected to lines 1 and 2, respectively, while contacts 0, c and c are connected to the brushes of the motor. When the movable contact-arm c is in the osition'shown in Fig. 1, the circuit throug the armature of the motor is broken. If, however, this arm is moved to the left, engaging with contacts running position to the right or to the left of its off position one or the other of the resistances R or R will be in series with the armature, this resistance being subsequently cut out step by step as the movable element of the controller passes over the contacts. Only a small number of resistance-controlling contacts are illustrated; but it is evident that this number may be increased to any desired extent without changing the principle carriage. When the sync or mode of operation of the controller.

The arm 0 is moved in one direction b means of the synchronous motor D, which drives the screw-shaft d, the screw-shaft being in turn threaded into a sleeve 0 revolubly supported within the hub c of the controller-arm. The sleeve 0 is provided with a pinion c", which meshes with an elongated complementary pinion c", eared to the gunonous motor is o erated to drive the screw-threaded shaft, t e elongated pinion c is held stationary by means of its connection with the gun-carriage, thereby preventing the pinion c from rotating and causin it and the controllerarm to move alon t e screw-threaded shaft. When the motor starts and the synchronous motor stops, the screw-threaded shaft (1 remains stationary, and the pinion c' is rotated, rotating the pinion c and causin it to move backward along the shaft -unt1l the moyable arm reaches its off position, whereupon the motor-circuit will be broken and the gun-carriage stopped. It is evident that by resistance in the motor-circuit as the con-- position, thereby to be obtained in troller is returned to its ofi permitting great accuracy training the 1gun.

Means inc uding a commutating device E is provided at the remote control-station for a de i cately controlling the synchronous motor. The synchronous motor and the commutating device are illustrated dia ammatically in conventional forms, since t ey maybe of any suitable types, it being only necessary that the synchronous motor be powerful enough to operate the screw-shaft properly.

Reference may be had a to *my Patent N 0. 706,554, granted August 12, 1902, for a complete description of a commutating device and synchronous motor. The commutating device is connected to the synchronous m0- tor by means of wires 3, 4, site ends of which are secured,respective y,,to

thestationary member of the motor and the movable member of the commutating device. The movable member of the motor and the stationary member of the commutating device are connected directly to lines 1 and 2 by means of wires 6 and 7 in the usual manner. It is evident that upon tating device through a definite angle the synchronous motor will move through a similar angle, operating the screw-shaft d a predetermined amount. device may be operated in anysuitable manner, as by means of an indicating-handle of some sort, which is moved to a predeter mined point in order to cause the gun to assume a definite-position. A preferred form of mechanism for operatin the commutating device in order to train t e gun with great, accuracy is illustrated, althou h the present invention is not limited to this particular form. Reference being hadto E represent, respectively, operating mechanism for the commutatin device, While 0 indicates the object at whicld it is desired to fire. Since the commutating device and the gun may be so placed that their distance apart is accurately known, it is possible to point the gun accurately by means of a system of similar triangles, of one of which the gun, the operating mechanism for the commutating device, and the object to be fired at form the apexes and of the and 5, the o poturning the commu-v The commutating Fig. 5, A and the gun and the other of which portions of the commutating- To this end theactuating mechanism E comprises an arm e, geared to the movable element of the commutating device by means of c, plil'pljecting'from the sliding block, engages wit V gearing e and swinging about a fixed ivot c and an arm 6 carryinga sliding bloc e and pivotally sup orted at the center 1: of a dial a It will course be understood that the gearing between the commutating device and the arm 6 is such that the commutating de-' vice and the synchronous motor are responsive toslight movements of the arm. A pin a slot .2 in thearm 6. The pivotal point e of the arm e is located at some dis tance from the center of the dial e Along the arm e there is placed a series of graduations e, which represent yards or any other absolute dimension upon the same scale that the distance between the", points e c represents the, distance between the gun and the pointxe. If now,'the range of the object bemg determined, the sliding block is moved along the arm e to the proper ran e and the arm 6 is turned so as to point at t e object, then the arm '6 will be parallel to a line drawn from the center of t e gun to. the object: The arrangement of parts is such that when the arm c occu ies any given position the gun 'will be rotate until brought mto parallelism therewith. The di'al e is graduated,'so that the arm a may be positioned with great accuracy. Furthermore, in order to move the sliding block a there is provided a screw 0 which en ages with threads u on the interior of the sliding block and whip 1 is rovided at its'outer end with a diaLc, whic together with a disk e fixed to the end of the arm,

, forms a vernier whereby the sliding block range'ment upon the arm, or if the locationmay be accurately adjusted.

In operation it is sim 1y necessary to direct the arm e toward t e object, either by means of a telescope or other sighting arof the object does not permit such sighting then by means of the graduated dial, and then to move'the sliding block to the pro er ran e. The arm e is thus brought paralle to the ine connecting the object and gun, moving the motor-controller to the proper point and causing the Tperating-motor to set the gun-carriage in motion "in the. roper direction. As the gun-carriage revo ves 1t moves the motor-controller backwardly, cutting re- 4 sistance into the motor-circuit, and thereby slow a down the motor as the guna proa cfis the desired position. Any suitab e auxiliary means may beprovided for positively stopping the gun-carriage when the motor-controller has been returned to its off position.such, for instance, as is illustrated in my Patent N 0. 798,335, granted to me August 29, 1905.

If desired, a second commutating device F may be "geared to-the gurrcarriage, the

commutating device being in turn connected to and controlling a synchronous motor G at the control-station, whereby as the gun re-' volves its changing positions are indicated to the operator. Ifdesired, the synchronous motor G may operate iodicatingimechanism H; which contains a numberof dials for registering the position of- .the in degrees, minutes seconds, and fractions of a second.

The construction of the motor-controller is shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The fixed contacts cc are mountedupon a slab of insulatin material 8, which also carries brackets 9 and 10, within which gear 0 and the screw-shaft dare revolubly supported. The screw-shaft may be geared to the shaft d, driven by the synchronous motor D, as at 11. The gearmg between the screwshaft and the motor constructed and arranged to revolve a number of times in order to movethe controller to an extreme dr to an intermediate running position.

For elevating the gun the controlling means disclosed in my aforesaid application may be employed or else means similar to that herein used to train the gun upon the proper azimuth. latter case themember corresponding-:- to am e may be fixed and represent any base-line, the angle between the arms e ande determining the angle of elevation of the While I have describe the present invention in detail, it is not-limited to the particular embodiment illustrated and described, except to the extent indicated in the appended claims, since in its broader aspect'sitmay be embodied in various forms.

On the other What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the-United States, 1. In a system of gun control, a. gun and operating means therefor, and contrblling mechanism for said operating means including an arm in the control-station and apparatus for causing the gun to be moved into parallelism 'with' said am together with means for adjusting said arm parallel to the line connecting the and target. I I

2. Means for training a gun or other apparatus upon any desired point, which com- 'prises'operating means including an arm and Y mechanism for causing the gun to be moved into parallelism with said arm, together with means foradjusting said arm parallel to: the

line connecting the gun-and sald point, whenv the distance between the point and the gun and the direction of the point from the arm are known.

3. In-& system of gun control, a gun and 5 operatingmeans therefor, controlling mechanism for said operating means including an arm in a remote control-station andapparatus for causing the gun to be moved into parallelism ,withthe arm, and means for adto 1ustingthe arm in the remote station into parallelism with a line connecting the gun and any desired point when the distance of the point from the. gun and the direction of the'point with relation to the remote station 15 are known. I

4. In a system of gun control, a gun, an

wages operating-motor, amaster-controller including anoperating-arm and means for brin 'ng said arm into parallelism with the line a ong which the gun is to be trained, means on- 2o trolled by said master-controller for bringin said gun into parallelism with said arm, an means controlled by said gun for stop ing the gun when it reaches the position in which it is parallel with said arm. '2

In witness'whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day ofvNovember, 1904.

c JOHN L. HALL.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN B. HULL, HELEN Onrmu). 

